SEX AND RELATIONSHIPS

My Experience in a Nudist Community (And why we should live like we were in a nudist camp) Last year, I decided to spend a day at a nudist camp. I have never had a problem with nudity and was always intrigued to experience life in the nude along with like-minded individuals. I already knew that the experience was not going to be of sexual nature (although a lot of people think so) and I was eager to learn from the experiences of other nudists. My intention was to explore something new, challenge my mind and to understand the behavior and lifestyle. So, on a warm January day I embarked on a journey to discover life on the nude. I called ahead to inquire about the place and their policies and also to alert them that I was a female going alone. Now, let me stop right here. I felt the need to disclose that I was a woman and a vulnerable target for undesired behavior most likely from males, should it happen. That alone says something about our society. The lady on the phone assured me that the environment was not only non-sexual but harassment free and that the safety and comfort of all, but especially women, was guaranteed and enforced at all times. If any member of the community made me feel uncomfortable in any way, displayed any sexual arousal and I got undesired attention, that member would be expelled at once. I felt like I was going to be in good hands so I decided to go. The nudist community is located in a semi-remote place sheltered in hundreds of acres of land adorned by beautiful natural landscape. Upon my arrival, I immediately saw a few people naked walking or driving golf carts. I was welcomed by a lady in her early 70s which greeted me (the same woman I had spoken to on the phone), gave me an orientation about the place and gave me a tour around, kindly introducing me to other members of the community. Everybody was very welcoming and friendly. Most people were in the nude but others were semi-nude. It was a sunny breezy beautiful 67 degree day. The temperature was too chilly for me so I never took my garment off. However, I enjoyed seeing everybody so free and comfortable in their own skin; such camaraderie and normalcy in something so natural but that has been denied from us and tarnished as it is our nudity and our bodies. In the first five minutes upon my arrival my brain registered that most people were naked. I am very open-minded and don’t see anything wrong with the human body but I had never been in an environment in which so many people were walking, driving, exercising, talking, tanning, and going about normal life stripped from the shield and protection of clothing. After five minutes my brain stopped focusing on the nudity and saw everybody as people. Most of the people I saw were well into their fifties and beyond although in the summer entire families spend their time there having fun in the nude. Nobody ever made any sexual advances to me during my stay. Moreover, all guys assured me that if at any given time anybody made me feel uneasy, to call upon any of the men and they would take care of whoever would cross that line. I was and felt protected and respected at all times. Unfortunately, the danger lies outside of the nudist community. It is ironic that, as a woman, I know that I am more vulnerable and may be the target of any man who would feel that he has the right to make advances on me simply because I am woman or justified by the way I dress or dance or the arousal that the curves of my body would elicit in him. It is unfortunate that any woman has to fear for her safety simply because we are women. As per my experience in the nudist community, I am planning on repeating it. At least there I know I am always safe.

I'm SO glad you wrote about this! I always say to the women in my life that we live in a rape culture, globally! A young female manager helped me to see the extent of this! I also say that only in indigenous cultures & societies, both past & present, do we have a lack of instances of rape, cultures that are essentially nudist communities! They called our ancestors savage & yet the savagery we see is, as you so elequently pointed out, seen, felt & experienced only outside of these cultures. The misogyny is unspoken yet very much alive & dominant in modern, western, so called "civilized" society (hypocrisy)!

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Dr. Tanginika Cuascud

I am a sexologist. I seek to sexually empower through education, information, and action. A better sex life equals a better life!